Prague, April 22 (CTK) - Former Czech president Vaclav Havel, a playwright, will attend the U.S. premiere of his latest play Leaving in Philadelphia on May 26, along with his wife Dagmar, Havel's secretary Sabina Tancevova has told CTK.
Leaving will be staged by the Wilma Theater. The main role of Chancellor Rieger is to be played by David Strathairn, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2005, according to the theatre's website.
Jitka Sloupova from the Aura-pont agency told CTK some time ago that the Wilma Theater, managed by Czech-born Blanka and Jiri Zizka, has become one of the most respected U.S. theatres.
The preparations of Leaving in Philadelphia have been joined by Paul Wilson, an experienced translator of Havel's plays into English.
Wilson stayed in the then communist Czechoslovakia in the 1970s and signed the Charter 77 human rights manifest issued by the Czechoslovak dissidents including Havel. He will attend a conference about Havel's work that the Wilma Theater will host on May 30.
Havel, 73, wrote Leaving after a pause of almost 20 years. It is a story of the departure of a politician and the arrival of another. Apart from Czech theatres, Leaving has been staged by a number of scenes abroad, including Britain, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Croatia.
Havel plans to shoot Leaving as a film, his first as a film director, later this year.
Havel was Czechoslovak president in 1989-1992 and the first president of the independent Czech Republic in 1993-2003.
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